Gears of war splintered loyalties
by flaming hunter
Summary: Aplot I had enjoy
1. Chapter 1

I write this so that in the event of my death, I leave something behind.

In all honesty, I would have wanted to have my kids or something, but written here are things that you whoever you are will not find anywhere else.

A large shadow appeared in the sky, we didn't know what it was back then, past experiences had taught us to believe whatever it as to be hostile and anyone with half a brain would have thought to shoot the dam thing down.

Thankfully we didn't.

We were loosing, the Lucus were pushing us back, we only had one city left, it was Humanities treasure, our last hope.

][][

"Well?"

"They agreed to let us on board, but there are a few conditions" I watch the higher us say to one another, my job was just to keep guard and nothing more.

Still, no one said I couldn't listen.

"According to the Adventurers, that's what they call themselves, we can keep our government and everything we have, but everything from history, technology, books, entertainment, weapons and anything of value will be openly given to anyone and everyone"

"They will do the same"

"Isn't that like we're the ones getting everything we want?"

"That's just the problem, this sityuation, it's too good to be true"

"What about them helping us fight?"

"They said it's not their problem, they have no idea what forced them to show up here and this isn't their war."

"From their point of view, they agreed to house what remains of our population, give us food, water, medicins and so on, but they won't risk their people's lives for no reason."

No one said anything after that and a heavy silence filled the room.

"What about the Independents?"

"They agreed to enter the ship, but won't be obedient to one government, they want to keep their independance."

"The Adventurers agreed to let them under the condition that none of them, no man women or child will ever be able to demand better treatment, because, under those conditions, none of them were ever going to become citizens"

"They nearly killed each other, but in the end, the Republicks agreed. They're moving their people to the ship already"

"..."

"...I'll make the announcement"

My job was to keep guard and not say anything, even when I was ordered to stay behind and make sure that none of the dust-covered papers were messed with, still, I listened to the announcement.

"People of Sera, the Adventurers, the people of Aincrad have agreed to let us into their ship, their fortress, under the condition that we respect the fact that we have no power or control of the castle"

"In exchange, they are willing to share their resources with all of us."

"These years have been difficult and few of us remember a time before this war."

"As of this moment I am ordering every man women and child to grave everything that they can, be it books, drawings even your favorite blankets and head to the ships"

"The war is over for now"

I couldn't believe what I had just heard, the announcement instantly demoralized anyone that heard it, even if they were fighting.

We had lost and everyone was going to be taken aboard a castle floating in the sky.

The door to the room opened and I watched as the same people that had been inside walked back in, they began to take boxes filled with papers, some papers were shredded others were put in other boxes and finally, one of them pointed at me and told me to get on the helicopter.

I did as I was ordered and as we were flying to the ship, I remember tightening my grip on my gun, I remembered the stories I had heard hen I was a kid and the movies I had seen.

How aliens would do strange things to the people they caught, I wasn't going to let them do anything like that to me.

I remember seeing the airplanes, both civilian and military all heading towards the massive thing, giant dors were letting them in.

The moment the helicopter landed, I was the first one to walk onto the place, the entire room was made of some kind of rock, I could see soldiers stepping out and looking around making sure that there weren't any surprises.

The Coalition and the Independents eyes each other but none of us wanted to start a firefight.

"Please come this way" A man wearing red medieval knight said to us.

Soldiers to the front, the back and on each side, to keep those important and the civilians safe, I remember feeling the hairs on my body stand as we walked out of the hanger.

It was like if we had just walked right back outside, blue sky's, yellow sun and the cleanest air I have ever breathed.

We arrived at a village, filled with things that looked like people, but they had no irises and just repeated the same things over and over again, machines that did what they were supposed to do, but were malfunctioning in their speech.

We had the usual done to us, medical check-ups and given baths.

I had forgotten how good it felt to have a hot shower, the sandwiches we were given, I broke down crying, I tried to hold face, all of us did but having something this wonderful was something I never expected to have ever again.

The castle\ship is bigger on the inside, so there is always more room.

I don't want to leave, I don't want to go back and fight for a world we have already lost.

We've done repeated sweeps to make sure we didn't leave people behind, anyone we brought back by force, asked us to forgive them after they saw where we had brought them.

I have a wife, a son that is training to become a knight and fight to defend his town.

I don't want to go back.

I'm not the only one, both soldiers and civilians want to stay.

I don't know what to do.

I've learned to farm, however, because there are big animals here I still need to fight, so once in a while, I go and hunt some miniatures or giant boars to keep the populations down and not have them hurt our harvest.

I don't want to go back. please don't make me go back.

God, I don't want to go back, please I just want to stay here and live my life with my family, god I beg you don't let them send me back.


	2. Chapter 2

I want to say that our... my loyalties to the world we had left behind hadn't changed, but put yourself in our... in my position.

We had just been given a world that was completely different from the one we had just left behind.

Ruins were left behind in exchange for villages, and for the first time in years, we could all sleep without having to worry about being killed while we slept.

There were plenty of unused houses and anything we had lost was available to us, houses with hot and cold water, working toilets and best of all, we all had something to do.

Those that were only good at fighting, became guards and began securing the lands around the villages.

I can still remember the first time I saw a dragon flying, you would think that being in a constant war would have made me want to kill the thing, but the truth is dragons don't go near villages and towns.

So all we had to do was leave them alone and they left us alone.

The governments took over some of the biggest buildings in town, and planned for the day we would all go back down to the surface.

"..."

What can I say? what do you want me to say?

Do you want me to tell you about the times we went below and pulled every ship we had left behind, out of the water and brought it on board the castle?

Or the fact that our airforce practically demanded to be allowed to learn how to tame some of the flying animals, to be allowed to fly inside and check the inside of Aincrad.

The problems didn't stop that's for sure, the Adventurers ruled, no they still rule the castle and are the main reason why the Republic and the Coalition haven't started shooting at each other.

I remember opening my eyes and lifting my right hand, all of a sudden there was a holographic projection there, it showed my name, age, what skills, training and well everything important about me.

I went to a small sign that said entertainment and clicked on it, there was an episode of Tom and Jerry being shown, followed by some commercials advertising things that didn't exist anymore and another cartoon.

I kept clicking on to see if I could see more things and I found the weather being shown, both the one inside and outside the castle.

I still remember opening my fridge and realizing I had just taken a jar filled with cold orange juice, I looked inside and my fridge was filled with food.

I don't know why but for some reason that juice was the tastiest and coldest drink I've ever had.

[][]

I'll be the first to admit, we didn't know what to do, and I mean everything.

We didn't know what to do with our lives, how we were going to live, work and so on.

Yeah, I have a farm now, but back then, things were different, so once again it was the Adventurers that came to our rescue.

They offered us three jobs, guild work, construction workers, and players.

Listen, us soldiers kept doing our thing, we patrolled the areas around the refugees, kept people from doing stupid things, but people need things to do.

Some people started brothels, this made us have to create a new law, prostitution is illegal beyond the designated areas, inside towns or cities, as for villages, it would only be allowed at night or on the outside of the village, so the kids don't see things they shouldn't.

Players would do the same as Adventurers and by the laws of the castle, they would not be denied entry to any city, town or village. This meant that they either had to have ended their military service or never had been in the military, to begin with.

The disturbing part of this was and still is the age limit, a person can become a Player when they reach the age of ten and that's it, there isn't any age limit or anything, players are responsible for themselves, weapons armor, medicine, and food.

We all believed that players were meaningless things but after a while, we understood how useful they were, especially to those that lived in the edge of the castle, or those places where security is the weakest.

The construction workers did just that they expand and repair the destroyed villages and towns, on rare occasions they are the ones responsible for rebuilding, the ruins people live in when we make a new city or village.

The guild workers, by now you should know how important they became or are, they are the ones that keep records of the Players, they make sure that jobs are done and most importantly they make sure everyone gets paid.

...

Listen I get it, we can't stay in the castle forever, but we made repeated ladings and did everything we could to get anything we left behind, but the truth is, it became impossible to even land.

Hell, what left of our cities is nothing more than crumbling buildings and old military bases.

What I'm trying to say is what are we even going back to? nearly everyone would rather stay on here than go back and I'm not talking about the civilians.

We're tired, nearly all of the military is exhausted and most of us would rather be killed for treason than go back.

Let's face it we lost.

We were given a second chance, so why are we going to deny ourselves from having it, besides when it was all said and done, the last time we even saw the planet itself, the castle lifted itself so high that no one on the ground could see it anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

[Else whaere]

"We had a deal. Your people would be allowed to use everything in Aincrad, but you would have no say in any of our laws"

["We aren't arguing with you and we thank you for your generosity, but many of the Republics citizens have become Players and in fact, they make up the majority of the Players"]

"That isn't our problem. The moment they became players they became citizens of Aincrad and became subjected to our laws. The Republic refuses to bend or change a lot of its ways"

["...We would like to become citizens, the Republic is offering everything we have kept for ourselves.]

"Do you realize"

["Yes, its time we move on, in time we will go back, but as things are we nither have the numbers, nor the resources to even restart the war and take back the surface"]

"Look at your help screens, everything the Coalition agreed to is in front of you."

["This is a short list"]

"You have already been doing the most of it, these are just the few things you didn't agree to"

["Deal"]

][][

I remember the first time. [Two years ago]

"Damm, that taste good, what do you think?"

"I don't know the air is clean and all but where is the smoke and smells I've gotten used to"

The two of us said to each other as we looked at the green field in front of us, I had no idea who the guy was but from those words, I could tell he was an okay guy.

My help screen beeped and I looked at it, officially I was no longer a soldier.

"So what are you going to do now?" he asked me.

"Don't know I've been fighting since the day they showed up and now..." I said as I signaled to the unicorns eating grass nearby.

He just chuckled. "Then why don't you become a Player, that's what I' ging to do."

"Players get the same privileges as the Adventurers, we get to go all over the castle and if we want to, we can just settle down and live wherever we want"

I listened to him as he pointed at the bag he had filled with gold, I can't believe everyone gets paid in gold.

"So this Player thing how does it work?"

"Caught your interest," he said to me, I can still remember his wide smile.

"Its easy you just goto one of the guilds sign up and you're a player, but its a life long job. Hold on before you say anything, the reason is, Players, do everything from plumbing, gardening, exploring, fighting monsters and whatever shows up"

"In rare occasions, we are expected to join in wars, but do to the Adventurers orders we can say no to this"

We didn't say anything after that, I watched him lay down and close his eyes, I sat down on the grass and laid on it.

God that felt good, to just lay down and feel the suns on my skin, it felt amazing the cool wind blowing, the itchy cool and warm grass underneath me.

How long I laid there, to be honest, I don't know.

I followed the guy back to town and we walked into a large building, the place was an expensive hotel, one you would expect rich people to use, but the moment the doors were opened, the mood completely changed.

Outside was calm and the moment the door opened, the sound of loud music reached my ears, men and women were eating grilled and fried meat, some people were drinking alcohol others just plain water.

Women were wearing lingerie, others skimpy clothing, some men were doing the same, all around us waitresses and waiters walked around carrying food and drinks.

We walked up to a counter and there was no one to greet us just a help screen.

All receptionists are busy, please connect your help screen to this one and all paperwork will be filled out immediately.

I just called my help screen and pushed it forward, the moment the two connected, I watched the help screen in the counter copy my information and immediately return my screen to me.

There was one difference however the word Player was now displayed on top of my name.

The feeling of vertigo hit me like a ton of rocks and I watched jobs that needed to be done fill my help screen, what rank I was, was displayed in bold letters.

The room kept on spinning and I could feel my body change, no, not change, altered.

When the feeling passed I found myself on all fours and when I looked up, I saw my reflection, all of my injuries had been heald.

My help screen beeped and I saw an automatic message.

Would you like to see the outside? It's customary for all new Players to see the outside of the castle and see the outside world.

I pressed yes on the screen and I felt my breath leave my body, blue skies as far as the eye could see, looked down and I could see the world I left behind.

You are on the highest floor Player, this is your playground. I read my screen, I turned around and saw the castle, oceans-forest-fields-mountains-desserts, and monsters.

]][][

"What now?" I said to myself as I took in the view.

"Screw it" I said before pressing the return button and suddenly I was back inside the guild, I found an empty table and called to a waitress and ordered a beer.

Televisions weren't needed anymore because of the personal hologram machines everyone has, but they are a welcomed remnant of the past, something that told us we still had some control over everything that happened around us.

The smell of the fried meat made my mouth water as I tasted the hot grease in the air as the plates were carried past me.

"Did you hear, another one's pregnant"

"Why can't I find a girl that's ready"

I listened to a man say to another, pregnancies were at an all-time high, it was like all of the females of the species had gone into heat and all of the men were ready to help start the next generation.

My help screen beeped and a live coverage was coming in, I could ignore it, but right now as things stand every bit of new information was valuable.

"People of Sera, we are pleased to announce that the Adventurers, the Republic, and the Coalition have agreed in a mutual protection treaty."

"Officially all resources are to be used to protect the castle and its for that reason that I'm pleased to announce that people of the Coalition of Ordered Governments are officially citizens of Aincrad."

"The Union of Independent Republics are still negotiating"

"We understand that many of you are still struggling to adjust to this new way of life, but rest assured that we are working on creating employment and new opportunities for all of you" the transmission ended.

"So that's it," I said as I took a drink of my beer and, right now the only thing I want to do is relax, so I did just that, I listened to all of the people speaking in the background, as I drank.


End file.
